Israel-Gaza conflict

Palestinians in Gaza City say they have experienced one of the most intense Israeli bombardments since Israel launched its war on Hamas after the group's unprecedented 7 October attack. Columns of Israeli tanks are reported to be closing in on the centre of the city from several different directions. The Gaza Civil Emergency Service says it believes a number of people have been killed but has so far been unable to reach them because of fighting in several districts in the east and west of Gaza City. The Al-Ahli Baptist hospital is reported to have been evacuated, with its patients…

The call to Mahmoud Shaheen came at dawn. It was Thursday 19 October at about 06:30, and Israel had been bombing Gaza for 12 days straight. He'd been in his third-floor, three-bedroom flat in al-Zahra, a middle-class area in the north of the Gaza Strip. Until now, it had been largely untouched by air strikes. He'd heard a rising clamour outside. People were screaming. "You need to escape," somebody in the street shouted, "because they will bomb the towers". As he left his building and crossed the road, looking for a safe place, his phone lit up. It was a…